John Crome (1768–1821) | Art UK Art UK | Discover Artists John Crome (1768–1821) View all 127 (b Norwich, 22 Dec. 1768; d Norwich, 22 Apr. 1821). English landscape painter and etcher, with Cotman the major artist of the Norwich School. Whereas Cotman was primarily a watercolourist, Crome painted mainly in oils. He was based in Norwich all his life, earning a major part of his living as a drawing master; he made regular trips to London and visited other parts of the country, but his only journey abroad was to Paris in 1814 to see the exhibition of pictures looted by Napoleon. Read more Of humble origin, he was first apprenticed to a coach- and sign-painter and taught himself principally by copying works in the collection of Thomas Harvey, a local collector and amateur painter who befriended him. The Dutch painters Ruisdael and Hobbema were particularly influential on him and he also admired Gainsborough and Wilson, but his work was based as much on direct observation of nature as on study of the Old Masters.

His favourite subjects included heathland, woods, and tranquil stretches of river, and his style was fresh, clear, and unaffected. In addition to his paintings he made 34 etchings, which were posthumously published by his widow and his eldest son John Bernay Crome (1794–1842). The elder Crome is sometimes referred to as ‘Old Crome’ to distinguish him from his son, who painted in his manner but with less distinction. Text Source: The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford University Press) Share this page John Crome, Norfolk Landscape Painter, Norwich School Norwich School. John Crome (1768-1821) English landscape painter John Crome was founder of the Norwich School . He trained as a coach painter until 1790. His ambition was to become a landscape painter and he was encouraged by a local collector, Thomas Harvey, who allowed him access to his large collection of British and Dutch paintings.

In this way, Crome assimilated the naturalism of artists Meindert Hobbema (1638-1709), Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-82), Jan Wynants (c.1625-84), as well as Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88). By the 1800s he had developed his own style of landscape painting , always based on the rustic East Anglian scenery. In 1803, Crome helped found the Norwich School of Artists, a group of painters which included the watercolourist John Sell Cotman (1782-1842). Crome painted in oils and watercolour and many of his works can be found at the Tate Gallery and the Royal Academy. He is often called 'Old Crome' to distinguish him from his artist son John Bernay Crome (1794-1842). His paintings include View of Mousehold Heath near Norwich (1812, Victoria & Albert Museum, London) and The Poringland Oak (Tate Collection, London).

BEST ARTISTS IN ENGLAND For a discussion of the main aesthetic issues concerning Art Definition, Meaning . Early Training Crome was born in Norwich in 1768, the son of a weaver. At the age of 12 he was apprenticed to a coach and sign painter, Francis Whisler, where he learned the use of palette and brushes, and the basics of grinding and mixing colours. Around this period he became friends with the apprentice printer Robert Ladbrooke (1770-1842), who also became a landscape painter. Both would go on drawing trips into the fields and then sell some of their works to a local printmaker. It was also around this time that Crome met the collector Thomas Harvey, who had a large collection of works by artists such as Gainsborough and Hobbema. Through countless studies and drawings, Crome taught himself the skills he needed. Harvey wrote:I was able to give him upon the subject of that particular branch of art which he had made his study. His visits were very frequent, and all his time was spent in my painting-room when I was not particularly engaged. He improved so rapidly that he delighted and astonished me'.

Crome also received some instruction from established artists such as portrait and historical painter John Opie (1761-1807) and portrait painter Sir William Beechey (17531839). AMERICAN LANDSCAPE ART Luminism . Crome was also influenced by the work of Welsh artist Richard Wilson (1714-82), a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768. Wilson, one of the first British artists to appreciate the aesthetics of the countryside and is considered the father of landscape art in Britain. In fact Crome was to state in the catalogues of exhibitions for the Norwich School of Art that his drawings were 'after Wilson' and 'in the style of Gainsborough'. Crome's early landscapes were highly detailed; he was one of the first artists of his generation for example to represent specific tree species in his works, as opposed to painting generalised forms. One of his earliest masterpieces was Moonrise on the Marshes of the Yare (c.1808, Tate), where it depends not on colour for effect (mainly he used browns and greys), but on light.

It demonstrates what can be achieved with a limited palette. Norwich School of Art In 1803, Crome along with Ladbrooke founded the Norwich Society of Artists, whose members comprised the Norwich School. In fact it was the first provincial art movement in Britain, and became an important contributor to the tradition of English landscape painting . Norwich School painters - amateurs as well as professionals - were typically inspired by the flat East Anglian landscape with its Broads and rivers, which they depicted using the new method of plein air painting . They were also influenced by Dutch Realist landscape such as Hobbema and Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-82). Initially the School started as a club in a local tavern where artists could meet to discuss artistic ideas and technique. Within 2 years, they had moved to their own premises where they worked and exhibited together. The first exhibition was launched in 1805 and was such a success that it became an annual event for the next twenty years. In 1828 they moved to another venue and reconstituted themselves as The Norfolk and Suffolk Institution for the Promotion of the Fine Arts, where they continued to exhibit until 1833.

In addition to Crome, Ladbrooke and Cotman, important members of the Norwich School included: James Stark (1794-1859), Joseph Stannard (1797-1830), George Vincent (1796-1831), Alfred Stannard (1806-89), John Thirtle (1777-1839), and H Ninham (1793-1874). Artistic Influences Crome rarely travelled very far outside of his county, and as a result had little contact with well known artists of his day. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in London , in 1806, but exhibited irregularly thereafter. With very few exceptions, his chosen subject matter remained the local landscapes. As one art critic wrote, Crome painted 'the bit of heath, the boat, and the slow water of the flattish land, trees most of all, the single tree in elaborate study, the group of trees, and how the growth of one affects that of another, and the characteristics of each'.

Another commented: 'No other painter, except for Jean-Francois Millet , has conveyed so well the friendly strength of the earth and the things that grow from it.' He became a master draughtsman and in particular an expert at depicting the English Oak tree (whereas Constables favourite tree was said to be the ash). An example is his The Poringland Oak (Tate, oil on canvas). This painting dates from later in Crome's life, when he was experimenting with etching as an art form. The details are great, the branches, the leaves and the jagged edges of the clouds. It is also a study of light, as the sun begins to set, almost pre-empting Impressionism. Another example is The Blasted Oak (c.1808, Norwich Castle Museum, watercolour), which displays a naturalistic style of landscape painting. Dutch influences can be seen in his paintings of Mousehold Heath near Norwich, which bear some similarities to works by Aelbert Cuyp (162091).

Although Crome may have come under the influence of many artists, he did develop his own unique style early on, which he adhered to with little or no change throughout his life. Artistic Reputation Crome's reputation was limited to Norfolk during his lifetime, where he made a reasonable living not only through selling his paintings, but also acting as an art dealer and restorer. He was a skilled etcher, completing the majority of his etching between 1809 and 1813 - but none were reproduced until after his death. It is remarkable that an artist with so little education, should have developed a School of painting in a city where art, beyond portraits of local merchants, was almost unknown. The only trip Crome took outside of Britain was in 1814 to Paris, where after the downfall of Napoleon, the English flocked to Paris to see the treasures in the Louvre, the spoils of Napoleon's victories.

(Four years later Chrome's compatriot, the short-lived English landscape genius Richard Parkes Bonington (1802-28) would arrive in Paris to study under Baron Gros.) On his return to Norfolk, Crome settled again to the natural scenery surrounding him, proclaiming he painted for 'air and space'. The artist died in 1821, his last words were "Hobbema! My dear Hobbema, how I loved you!" Paintings by John Crome can be seen in some of the best art museums in England.  For more biographies of important modern artists, see: Famous Painters .  For our main index, see: Homepage . John Crome JOHN CROME - 1768- 1821 Portrait courtesy of Norwich Museum & Art Gallery Probably the best known of all the people buried in St George Colegate is John Crome, one of the founder members of the Norwich school of Painters. Crome was a very likeable and charming character, who was described by one lady acquaintance as a ‘loveable rascal’.

He was born on 22 December 1768 and baptised on Christmas Day, three days later, in St George Tombland. The son of a journeyman weaver, who also kept an alehouse called ‘The Griffen’. (Alehouses in the17&18th century were a ‘home’ industry and many existed in the city). ‘The Griffen’ was in the Castle Meadow area of Norwich, according to Hocksetters map of 1789. In 1781 he began his working life as an errand boy to an eminent city doctor called Edward Rigby. Rigby lived at 32 Giles Street and was to become Mayor of Norwich in 1805. He had an influential effect on Crome’s life. He was the first person to recognise his abilities as a painter and he introduced him to some of the significant people of the day. There are several stories relating to Crome during this period. It is said that on occasions he changed the labels on the medicines he was delivering! Another incident resulted in the doctor’s medical skeleton being thrown out of a bedroom window, by Crome, after medical students had put it in his bed as a joke.

In August 1783 he left Rigby’s employment and began a seven year apprenticeship with Francis Whisler, a coach and sign painter in Bethel Street. His interest in painting developed and he became friendly with Robert Ladbroke, a fellow apprentice. They went sketching together around Norwich, particularly on Mousehold heath, and shared a garret studio. Crome is reputed to have made paintbrushes from cat’s hairs and used oyster shells as palettes. He spent what money he had on buying prints of Dutch masters to copy. When Crome’s apprenticeship ended, in 1790, he took up commissions for sign paintings himself and began to give drawing lessons to children of the wealthy. In October 1792 Crome married Phoebe Berney at St Marys, Coslany.Their first child Amelia arrived on October 30th of the same month! They were to have eleven children in all, four of whom were to die in infancy. Amelia died shortly before her second birthday. One of their children, John Berney Crome, was to follow in his father’s footsteps and became a well known artist in later life.

In 1793 Crome’s close friend Robert Ladbroke married Mary Berney, Phoebe’s sister. In the early 1790s Rigby introduced Crome to Thomas Harvey of Catton, who also had a house in Colegate. Harvey was an amateur artist and collector who owned paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, Richard Wilson and Miendert Hobbema. Crome was particularly influenced by Wilson and Hobbema, in particular their ability to give landscape paintings a sense of space and breadth. These qualities were to become a feature of his work and teachings. Further introductions resulted with Crome meeting Sir William Beechey RA, who gave him lessons in London, and John Opie the portrait painter. Opie later painted John Crome’s portrait. (See picture) Beechey describing Crome said ‘He was an awkward country lad when I first met him, but shrewd in all his remarks on art, although he wanted words to express them’. In 1798 Crome took up a post with the Quaker manufacturer Joseph Gurney of Earlham Hall. Crome was employed as drawing master to Gurney’s three daughters.

By this time he had become a Freemason, joined the Philosophical Society and the Dirty Shirt Club! The latter met in the Rifleman’s Arms, in Cross Lane, off St George’s Street, and were a group of like minded characters, who all smoked ‘churchwarden’ pipes and enjoyed a drink or two. How his life style was interpreted by the Gurney daughters, we can only imagine, for Betsy Gurney was later to become Elizabeth Fry, the Quaker champion of women’s rights and prison reformer. In 1801 Crome established a school of art in his house at 17 Gildencroft (now demolished) and later took up a post as drawing master at King Edward Grammar School in Norwich. In 1802 he joined the Gurneys on a tour of the Lake District. In 1803 he, with others, including Robert Ladbroke, founded the Norwich School of Painting. He was to become the Society’s President in 1808 and 1821 the year of his death. Most of the artists were landscapists, drawing inspiration from the local surrounding scenery.

Their first exhibition took place in 1805 in a court off Little London Street. They became annual events coinciding with the city’s Summer Assizes Week, when many people from the surrounding area visited the city and amusements took place. Norwich became the first English city to establish regular art exhibitions outside London. During his life time John Crome exhibited 307 pictures, 16 of which were exhibited in London. Shortly before he died he became churchwarden of this church. Sadly, when he died he was in debt, owing Gurney’s Bank £145. His death certificate recorded that he died on 14th April 1821 of ‘an inflammatory malady induced by early labours as a house painter! The local paper reported that ‘an immense concourse of people’ attended his funeral. (Extracted from an article by Joanna Bulpett ) The Monument The memorial on a slate ledger stonel, here in St George Colegate , was sculptured by John Bell , a Suffolk sculptor. It was erected in 1868 What the monument tells us. The pallet & brushes are a pictorial representation of Crome's artistic talent.

Whilst the laurel represents fame or victory - a medium often applied to literary or artisic figures Churches managed by NHCT are highlighted in in bold below. Click to visit a church. Moonlight near Norwich | Crome, John | V&A Search the Collections Height: 11.5 in approx., Width: 13.5 in approx. Object history note Purchased, 1866 Historical significance: When this landscape was purchased for the South Kensington Museum in 1866 it was attributed to the Norwich School artist John Crome (1768-1821). The son of a journeyman and weaver, John Crome (1768-1821) worked as a painter, printmaker and teacher. He was apprenitced to the coach sign painter Francis Whistler from 1783 to 1790. He presumably continued in this trade during the 1790s whilst he was consolidating his artistic training. Early influences on Crome came from the local artists William Beechey and John Opie. Crome also benefited from his friendship with the collector and amateur artist Thomas Harvey.

Harvey’s collection included works by Dutch seventeenth century masters including Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682), Meindert Hobbema (1638-1707) and Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691), as well as eighteenth century British artists Richard Wilson (1713-1782) and Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788). Exposure to these works through Harvey was to have a significant effect on the landscapes of John Crome. From 1792 Crome is documented working as an artist and also as a drawing master to the wives and daughters of local gentry.Whilst teaching drawing to the local gentry, Crome also took artists as pupils. His most famous pupils were James Stark and George Vincent. He was one of the founders of the Norwich Society of Artists in 1803 and worked predominantly in East Anglia. In 1802 he accompanied members of the Gurney family of Earlham Hall, Norwich, who were his pupils, on a tour of the Lake District.

He only travelled abroad once, in 1814, to see the art collections brought to Paris by Napoleon. Establishing the chronology of Crome’s oeuvre is difficult as he did not sign his paintings. His work is often confused with that of his eldest son, John Berney Crome (1794-1842). Although often criticized during his lifetime for the “unfinished” quality of his works, within a week of his death people were reported as being desperate to acquire the artist’s paintings. This resulted in a high number of works by his followers and imitators being made during the nineteenth century. A note on the object file states that C. H. Collins Baker challenged this attribution to Crome in 1920, suggesting that it is instead the work of a follower of Crome (See also Collins Baker, p.148). This attribution to a follower of Crome was supported by Dr. Goldbroy in 1960 (see note on object file). It is plausible that this is one of the many works created by an imitator of the artist in response to the growing demand for works by Crome.

Moonlit landscapes occur in works by a number of artists from the Norwich School. John Crome painted several scenes bathed in moonlight. However it is probably his son John Berne Crome (1794-1842) who is best known for this genre. He produced a number of moonlit works including Moonlight; Tate Collection; museum number 2643 and River Scene in Holland, Norwich Castle Museum; museum number 1934.70:F. In this painting the line of the river Wessem, which runs around Norwich, leads our eye in to the middle distance of the painting. Placed at the centre of the composition on the bank of the river is a tower. Towers, some of which date back to the thirteenth century, were built along the walls of Norwich as part of the city’s defence system. A number of these towers survive to this day. Such structures would have been a familiar sight during the early nineteenth century. This tower does not appear to relate to any of those that still survive in Norwich. The spherical form of the tower and large windows, is similar to that of the two Boom Towers, situated on the river.

The single storey extension to the building is similar to that of Bull Close tower which is situated further from the river than the tower in this painting. The tower in Moonlight Landscape is most likely a fantasy, combining elements of local examples to create a particular style of building that makes a pleasing addition to the scene. By being illuminated by the moonlight, this structure becomes a focal point in the composition. Its location next to the water allows the artist to also demonstrate their ability at painting the reflections of the moon and tower in the river below. These tranquil moonlit landscapes, follow examples of seventeenth-century Dutch artists such as Aert van der Neer (1603/4-1677), who is best known for his scenes lit by the moon. The influence of the artist Aert van der Neer can be seen particularly in the form of the tower, where the combination of roof and large windows creates a building which is stylistically close to those found in Dutch and Flemish Landscapes. During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Norwich enjoyed close mercantile links with Holland. As a result a number of strong collections of Dutch art were formed in the county of Norfolk.

Norwich school artists were often employed as drawing masters to the Norfolk's elite and therefore were exposed to the paintings in these collections. For example, John Crome was able to study from the collection of his friend and PatronThomas Harvey, which included works by Dutch seventeenth century masters such as Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682), Meindert Hobbema (1638-1707) and Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691). Historical context note The Norwich School is a name applied to a group of Landscape painters working in the early nineteenth century who were associated with the Norwich Society of Fine Arts, established by John Crome (1768-1821) in 1803. The society was founded with the intention of "an Enquiry into the Rise, Progress and present state of Painting, Architecture and Sculpture, with a view to point out the Best Methods of Study to attain the Greater Perfection in these Arts." It included both professional and amateur artists. The society held exhibitions annually in Norwich from 1805-1825 and then from 1828-1833.

The Norwich School was the first self-sustaining provincial artistic community in Britain. Its evolution was due to the relative insularity of both Norfolk merchants and gentry, who provided patronage through purchasing works as wells as employing many of the artists associated with the Norwich School as drawing masters for their wives and daughters. The artistic style of each artist within the Norwich School is often very different. For example the work of the two main figures in the Norwich School, John Crome (1768-1821) and John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) are very different. Crome's paintings, mainly produced in oil, reflect the influence of the Dutch seventeenth-century landscapes, whilst Cotman employs a more elegant topographical approach, often through the medium of watercolour. The Norwich School artists were united through their depiction of local landscape rather than the employment of a particular style. Crome was perhaps one of the most influential members of the school. This can be seen particularly in the work of his pupils George Vincent (1796-1832) and James Stark (1794-1859).

Descriptive line Oil on canvas, 'Moonlight near Norwich', follower of John Crome, early 19th century Materials Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : Blacksmith's Shop near Hingham, Norfolk Blacksmith's Shop near Hingham, Norfolk Blacksmith's Shop near Hingham, Norfolk John Crome, English, 1768 - 1821 Geography: Made in Norfolk, England, Europe Date: 60 5/8 x 48 inches (154 x 121.9 cm) Curatorial Department: The John Howard McFadden Collection, 1928 Social Tags [ ? ] Enter a comma-separated list of keywords or phrases that best describe this object to make it more accessible during searches. Please check your spelling. Explore the Collections Additional information: British Painting in the Philadelphia Museum of Art Crome’s early masterpiece The Blacksmith's Shop near Hingham shows the tumbledown shack thrown up against the side of a thatched cottage used by the blacksmith for the villages of Hingham and Hardingham, each about twelve miles southwest of Norwich. Other paintings by Crome on the blacksmith-shop theme were exhibited under the name of either village.

In this painting, to the left, the smithy sharpens a tool at a grindstone; family members and perhaps assistants mill around the shop. The dense, full foliage of the trees, and the blue, silver-clouded sky indicate a scene in midsummer; the whole breathes an air of intense stillness on a warm afternoon in the deep country. In the foreground two ducks float on a pond. Crome used the motif of the shop in picturesque dilapidation set against a verdant landscape to create one whole and harmonious melding of shapes, tones, and textures. The scale of the picture indicates that from the first Crome conceived it as an exhibition picture, perhaps with the Royal Academy exhibition in mind, where it appeared in 1808. Two watercolors are related to it.

The first, in the Norwich Castle Museum (The Blacksmith’s Shop, c.1806-7, pencil and watercolor, 21 1/4 x 17 1/2" {54.1 x 44.3 cm.} Norwich, Norwich Castle Museum {Norfolk Museums Service}), shows the blacksmith's shop from a different angle; it is presumably one of the watercolors exhibited at the Norwich Society in 1807 (no. 19 or 100 ), and may be assumed to have preceded the Philadelphia oil. The Doncaster watercolor (The Blacksmith’s Shop, c. 1806-7, watercolor, 15 1/4 x 11 1/2” {38.7 x 29.2 cm.} Doncaster, Museum and Art Gallery), which is nearly identical in composition with the Philadelphia picture, has been thought by Goldberg (1978, vol. 1, p. 255) to have been executed in preparation for the Philadelphia oil, and is perhaps also one of the watercolors "from nature" exhibited at the Norwich Society in 1807 (no.

19 or 100 ). Nearly all commentators on Crome agree on the importance of The Blacksmith's Shop, with the exception of Binyon (1897, pp. 20-21), who thought it "not a very characteristic or significant work." Beginning with Hawcroft (1959, p. 234), scholars have seen The Blacksmith’s Shop primarily in terms of Crome's response to Gainsborough's (1727-1788) Cottage Door (1780, oil on canvas, 58 x 47” {147.3 x 119.4 cm.} San Marino, California, Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery), which belonged (until its sale in 1807) to Crome's patron Thomas Harvey of Catton, and which Crome is known to have copied.1 The Crome is, of course, an essay in the picturesque very much in the spirit of The Cottage Door; and in 1806 Crome had exhibited at the Norwich Society (no.

221) a "Sketch, from Nature, in the Style of Gainsborough.'' There are, however, important differences between the intentions of Gainsborough and Crome--so that the Norwich artist can be said to have been influenced only superficially by Gainsborough in comparison to his less obvious but much more profound debt to Richard Wilson (1713-1782). Gainsborough's cottage and its inhabitants are idealized visions living out a pastoral idyll, creations of a rococo sensibility. Gainsborough's lighting and composition have a theatricality and artificiality very different from Crome's deadpan description. Crome is utterly without sentimentality, and the problems that interest him are largely artistic ones: Crome's work is about the resolution of formal problems. In style and technique The Blacksmith's Shop should be compared to the Tate Gallery's Moonrise on the Yare (c. 1806, 28 x 43 3/4”). Both are painted on coarsely woven canvas on a monochrome ground of dark red or ocher, with liquid, runny paint handled with great broadness and freedom.

The undercoat was allowed to dry, after which the next layer of color was applied. Some bitumen was used to give the picture a mellow tone. In addition to the influence of Gainsborough, Crome clearly responded in The Blacksmith’s Shop to the return of John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) to Norwich late in 1806. Comparing the watercolors of The Blacksmith’s Shop to Cotman's Old Houses at Gorleston (c. 1815-23, oil on canvas, 18 x 14” {45.5 x 35.3 cm.} Norwich Castle Museum {Norfolk Museums Service}), one perceives that Cotman's interest in the simplified patterns made by the planes and the angles of timbers is reflected in a similar treatment of architecture in The Blacksmith’s Shop, where, like Cotman, Crome's primary interest is in subtlety of texture and tone, the definition of shape through the modulation and control of color. Richard Dorment, from British Painting in the Philadelphia Museum of Art: From the Seventeenth through the Nineteenth Century (1986), pp. 78-81.

1. Dawson Turner, Outlines in Lithography from a Small Collection of Pictures (privately published, 1840), p. 23. LITERATURE: Reeve MS., no. 167, c. 6, fol. 18, British Museum Print Room, London; "John Crome and His Works," Norwich Mercury, November 1858; John Wooderspoon,John Crome and His Works. [1858]. 2nd ed. Norwich, 1876, p. 20; Laurence Binyon, John Crome and John Sell Cotman. London, 1897, pp. 20-21; William Frederick Dickes. The Norwich School of Painting. London and Norwich, 1905, p. 63; Henry Studdy Theobald, Crome's Etchings: A Catalogue and Appreciation with Some Account of His Paintings. London,1906, pp. 13-14; William Roberts, Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures Formed by John H. McFadden, Esq., of Philadelphia, Pa. London, 1917, pp.

13-14, repro. opp. p. 13; H. M. Cundall, "The Norwich School." The Studio, special issue, 1920, pp. 13-14, pl. XXII; C. H. Collins Baker, Crome. London, 1921. (introduction by C. J. Holmes) 1921, p. 59 n. 2, pp. 83, 86, 98, 101, 106, 118, 122, 186, 195, 197; R. H. Mottram, John Crome of Norwich. London, 1931, p. 116; Francis W. Hawcroft, "Crome and His Patron: Thomas Harvey of Catton." The Connoisseur, vol. 144, no. 582 (December 1959), p. 234 fig. 7; Norman L. Goldberg, "Old Crome in America." The Connoisseur, vol. 146, no.

589 (November 1960), 1960, pp. 215 fig. 3; Manchester, Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester. The Norwich School, Loan Exhibition of Works by Crome and Cotman, and Their Followers, February 10-March 11, 1961 (by Francis W. Hawcroft), pp. 5, 32 (notes for no. 34); Derek Clifford, Watercolours of the Norwich School. London, 1965, p. ix; Jacksonville, Florida, Cummer Gallery of Art, Nashville, Tennesse, Tennesse Fine Arts Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, Isaac Delgado Museum of Art. Landscapes of the Norwich School, An American Debut, 1967, (by Norman L. Goldberg) pp. 25-26, 47, 73; Derek Clifford and Timothy Clifford, John Crome. London, 1968, pp. 53-54, 131, 197, no.

P37, 201, 263, 266, 268, 272, 274-6, pl. 86; Norwich, Norwich Castle Museum, London, Tate Gallery. John Crome, 1768-1821 (by Frederick Cummings, Allen Staley, and Robert Rosenblum), 1968, introduction (unpaginated), pl. 2; Allen Staley, "British Painting from Hogarth to Alma-Tadema." Apollo, n.s., vol. 100 (July 1974), p. 37; Norman L. Goldberg, John Crome the Elder. 2 vols. Oxford, 1978, vol. I, pp. 13, 21, 24-25, 33, 51-54, 52 n. 48, 70, 77 n. 24, 90, 131, 135, 141, 186-87 no.

34, 189, 254-55 (under no. 175), 297, vol. 2, fig. 34; Harold A. E. Day, The Norwich School of Painters. Eastbourne, Sussex, 1979, p. 17; Andrew Hemingway, The Norwich School of Painters, 1803-1833. Oxford, 1979, p. 15; Kathryn Moore Heleniak, William Mulready, (New Haven and London, 1980), p. 67, fig. 65. English Norwich School Oil on Canvas Painting, Forest Landscape, Bury from eronjohnsonantiques on Ruby Lane Expand Description Possibly Robert Ladbrooke (English, 1768-1842) Circle of John Crome (English, 1768-1821) . Label (on reverse): Laumeier Park/ Bury St. Edmunds/ Fred Ladbrook/ Norwich School. The Norwich School of painters was founded in 1803 in Norwich, and was the first provincial art movement in Britain.

Artists were inspired by the beauty of the Norfolk landscape and were influenced by the Dutch Golden Age of artists. c. 1800 W 25 D 3 H 25 in. Sight: W 17.5 D 17.5 in. Item ID:A1901 If you were the pending buyer of this item, go to My Account to view, track and check payment for this item. Moonlight near Yarmouth | Crome, John | V&A Search the Collections Height: 14.25 in approx., Width: 12.25 in approx. Object history note Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857 as part of his collection of 233 oils and 298 watercolours, etchings and drawings John Sheepshanks (1787-1863), art collector, was the son of the wealthy cloth manufacturer and merchant Joseph Sheepshanks. John succeeded his father in the family firm of York and Sheepshanks in Leeds. After his retirement from business in 1827, John Sheepshanks moved to London. He made several trips to the Continent but lived relatively modestly.

Apart from art, Sheepshanks was interested in gardening and was a member of both the Royal Horticultural Society and the Athenaeum Club. Sheepshanks liked to pursue his interest in art by entertaining painters and engravers at informal Wednesday “at homes”. Sheepshanks began his interest in art through collecting books of Dutch and Flemish prints. Before he moved to London he made purchases at the Northern Society in Leeds. In London he actively patronized artists including Landseer, Mulready, Leslie, Callcott and Cooke. His taste was for contemporary early Victorian cabinet pictures of anecdotal, sentimental, and instructive subjects, as well as scenes from literature. His collection was unique for its time being the only large scale one of contemporary British paintings. He gave his collection of 233 oils and 298 watercolours, etchings and drawings to the South Kensington museum in 1857 (see departmental file on Sheepshanks). The deed of gift stipulated that “a well-lighted and otherwise suitable” gallery should be built to house his collection near the buildings of the Science and Art department on the South Kensington Site. This followed Sheepshanks’ wish to create a ‘gallery of British art’.

The Sheepshanks Gallery was opened in 1857. Extract from Parkinson, Ronald, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860. Victoria & Albert Museum, HMSO, London, 1990. p.xviii. John Sheepshanks (1784-1863) was the son of a wealthy cloth manufacturer. He entered the family business, but his early enthusiasms were for gardening and the collecting of Dutch and Flemish prints. He retired from business at the age of 40, by which time he had begun collecting predominantly in the field of modern British art. He told Richard Redgrave RA, then a curator in the South Kensington Museum (later the V&A) of his intention to give his collection to the nation. The gallery built to house the collection was the first permanent structure on the V&A site, and all concerned saw the Sheepshanks Gift as forming the nucleus of a National Gallery of British Art. Sheepshanks commissioned works from contemporary artists, bought from the annual RA summer exhibitions, but also bought paintings by artists working before Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837.

The Sheepshanks Gift is the bedrock of the V&A's collection of British oil paintings, and served to encourage many other collectors to make donations and bequests. Historical significance: When Moonlight near Yarmouth entered the V&A collections as part of the Sheepshanks gift in 1857, it was attributed to the Norwich School artist John Crome (1768-1821). The son of a journeyman and weaver, John Crome worked as a painter, printmaker and teacher. Crome was a founding member of the Norwich Society of Artists in 1803. He was one of the most significant artists of the Norwich school, which flourished in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. His work combines observations of local scenes with the artist’s interest in Dutch seventeenth-century art, which he had been exposed to through the collection of Thomas Harvey.

Harvey's collection included works by Dutch seventeenth century masters such as Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682), Meindert Hobbema (1638-1707) and Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691), as well as eighteenth century British artists Richard Wilson (1713-1782) and Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788). In 1911 it was suggested that the work was not by John Crome but that it had in fact been “turned out” by Sir Charles Robinson (1824-1913), who worked at the South Kensington Museum as the Keeper of Ornamental Art from 1852-1863 and Art Referee 1863-1867 (See note on object file). This attribution was not taken further, with the work being ascribed to “follower of Crome”. More recently it has been suggested that FA.63 could be by the hand of John Crome’s son, John Burney Crome (1794-1842).

A pupil of his father, John Berney Crome began exhibiting at the Norwich Society of Artists in 1806, where he became a regular contributor until it broke up in 1833. At the death of his father in 1821 it was believed that John Burney Crome would follow his father and become a leading figure in the Norwich School. However the son’s works often vary in quality. John Burney Crome travelled frequently to France, Belgium and Ireland. His works draw from the landscapes that he saw on these travels and those of his local surrounds in East Anglia. In 1824 he was appointed Landscape Painter to the Duke of Sussex. Following a three day bankruptcy sale in 1834, John Berney Crome moved to Great Yarmouth where he continued to live and work until his death in 1842. The composition of this painting, combining water that reflects the moon above, follows examples of the Dutch artists such as Aert van der Neer (1603/4-1677), who is best known for his moonlit landscapes.

John Berney Crome painted a number of moonlit scenes including Moonlight in the Tate collection (museum number 2643) and River Scene in Holland in the Norwich Castle Museum (museum number 1934.70:F). The same style of windmill stands in the distance of Moonlight at the Tate as that on the left of FA.63. In these two works the leaves at the end of the tree branches are defined in the same fine feathery manner. A comparison of FA.63 with River Scene in Holland at the Norwich Castle Museum shows the the same use of a compositional device of the river running from the lower left to the mid right of the painting to direct our eyes in to the landscape. These similarities of composition and style support the recent attribution of this work to John Berney Crome. The location of the landscape near Yarmouth, where the artist resided from 1834, further supports the attribution to John Berney Crome or one of his followers. Great Yarmouth is situated at the southern part of the coast of Norfolk at the mouth of the river Yare. It is the gateway to the Norfolk Broads from the sea.

This series of navigable canals and rivers that make up the Norfolk Broads were an important feature of the landscape which allowed for merchants to transport goods from the North Sea inland in England. It is probably one of these waterways that cuts through the composition of the FA.63, leading our eye past different vessels, on the middle right, to the distant windmill. As with the Broads, the windmill is typical motif of the Norfolk landscape and occurs frequently in works by Norwich School artists. Historical context note The Norwich School is a name applied to a group of Landscape painters working in the early nineteenth century who were associated with the Norwich Society of Fine Arts, established by John Crome (1768-1821) in 1803. The society was founded with the intention of "an Enquiry into the Rise, Progress and present state of Painting, Architecture and Sculpture, with a view to point out the Best Methods of Study to attain the Greater Perfection in these Arts." It included both professional and amateur artists. The society held exhibitions annually in Norwich from 1805-1825 and then from 1828-1833.

The Norwich School was the first self-sustaining provincial artistic community in Britain. Its evolution was due to the relative insularity of both Norfolk merchants and gentry, who provided patronage through purchasing works as wells as employing many of the artists associated with the Norwich School as drawing masters for their wives and daughters. The artistic style of each artist within the Norwich School is often very different. For example the work of the two main figures in the Norwich School, John Crome (1768-1821) and John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) are very different. Crome's paintings, mainly produced in oil, reflect the influence of the Dutch seventeenth-century landscapes, whilst Cotman employs a more elegant topographical approach, often through the medium of watercolour. The Norwich School artists were united through their depiction of local landscape rather than the employment of a particular style. Crome was perhaps one of the most influential members of the school. This can be seen particularly in the work of his pupils George Vincent (1796-1832) and James Stark (1794-1859).

Descriptive line Oil on canvas entitled 'Moonlight Near Yarmouth' in style of John Crome. Great Britain, ca. 1790-1820. Materials

Question: John Crome (1768-1821) founded which School of Painting?
Answer: NORWICH SCHOOL